Barrel with recess on barrel face of breech end

ABSTRACT

Some embodiments may include a barrel for a firearm, the barrel having a bore extending from a breech end of the barrel to a muzzle end of the barrel, the back of the bore comprising a chamber of the barrel, the barrel further comprising: barrel face on the breech end of the barrel; and a recess on the barrel face, the recess having a bottom that extends from the chamber of the barrel to an exterior side surface of the barrel. Other embodiments may be disclosed and/or claimed.

PRIORITY

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/129,440 filed on Dec. 22, 2020, entitled BARREL WITH RECESS ON BARREL FACE OF BREECH END, which is incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

Firearms utilize a cycle of operation which may include various sequential operations such as feeding, chambering, locking, firing, unlocking, extracting, ejecting, and cocking. During the firing operation, the firearm propels a bullet or other type of projectile through the expansion of gas within a firearm barrel. It is during this operation that gas may be expelled out of the front of the firearm barrel together with the bullet. The gas expelled from the muzzle end of the barrel during the firing operation will hereinafter be referred to as “first gas.”

Some firearms may exploit a portion of the first gas to reduce recoil, either natively or by way of accessories. One accessory, called a compensator, can be used to retrofit a firearm with recoil reduction. These accessories may be attached to the muzzle end of the barrel. However, this increases the total length of the firearm. U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 17/156,503, filed on Jan. 22, 2021 and incorporated by reference herein, describes a slide assembly with gas porting at the at the muzzle end of the slide assembly to exploit this first gas without increasing the total length of the firearm, and also a gas port device that couples to the muzzle end of a barrel in which the total increased length of the firearm is minimized as compared to some other barrel mounted accessories.

In later operations of the cycle of operation of the firearm, additional gas may leave the breech end of the barrel (e.g., during unlocking, extracting, and/or ejecting). This additional gas, which exits in the later operations, will hereafter be referred to as “second gas.” In a glock-compatible firearm, for example, recoil energy drives the slide and barrel rearward together for a short distance until the rear barrel lug drops and locks. This causes the barrel to drop down and stop while the slide continues to travel backward, which unlocks the barrel breech from the ejection port of the slide allowing the casing to be ejected. The second gas exits the ejection port in response to the unlocking of the breech.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A illustrates a side view of a slide assembly for a glock-compatible firearm, according to various embodiments.

FIG. 1B illustrates an enlarged detail of region A of the slide assembly of FIG. 1A

FIG. 1C illustrates a cross-sectional view taken along section line B of the slide assembly of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2A illustrates an isometric view of a barrel 10 of the slide assembly of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2B illustrates a rear view of the barrel of FIG. 2A.

FIG. 2C illustrates a side view of the barrel of FIG. 2A.

FIG. 2D illustrates an enlarged detail region C of the barrel of FIG. 2A.

FIG. 3 illustrates a rear view of another barrel with a recess on the barrel face.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some embodiments provide a recess on the barrel face of the breech end of the barrel. Prior to firing, when the firearm is in the locked state (e.g., in the case of a glock-compatible firearm, when the barrel breech is locked in the ejection port of the slide), this recess may serve as a chamber indicator. Specifically, when the firearm is in the locked state with a round in the chamber, the round is visible through an opening defined by the bottom of the recess, the sidewalls of the recess, and a part of the slide that is arranged to mate with the breech face of the barrel.

Also, the same opening may optimize the expulsion of the second gas following the firing operation. Specifically, this opening may direct a flow of the gas out of the side of the firearm away from an optic installed on the firearm. Specifically, if an optic, such as a red dot optic or other RMR (rugged miniature reflex) optic, is mounted behind the ejection port of the firearm, as is often the case in glock-compatible firearms, the optimized flow of gas may prevent the debris from being carried out the top of the ejection port (so that the debris is not deposited on the front of the optic). This may keep the optic clean.

FIG. 1A illustrates a side view of a slide assembly for a glock-compatible firearm, FIG. 1B illustrates an enlarged detail of region A of FIG. 1A, and FIG. 1C illustrates a cross-sectional view taken along section line B. The slide assembly includes a slide 10 around a barrel 11. In this view the slide 10 and barrel 11 are shown in the locked state—the barrel breech is locked in the ejection port 20 of the slide. In this locked state, an opening 21 is defined in part by a recess in the breech face of the breech end of the barrel.

Referring to FIG. 1B, a chambered round 40 is visible through the opening 21. This chamber indicator can be utilized while a firearm is in the locked state (e.g., while the barrel breech is locked in the ejection port 20).

Referring again to FIG. 1A, in the illustrated embodiment the muzzle end of the slide assembly includes a gas port 12 for exploiting the first gas for recoil reduction. The gas port 12 is described in more detail in U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 17/156,503. The slide 11 also includes other various features described in the '503 application, including an optics mounting platform on which an optic 30 is mounted and a dovetail for mounting an optics guard to protect the optic 30 (the slide assembly is shown with a cover plate installed in the dovetail).

Referring now to FIG. 1C, this cross sectional view is taken along section line B and looking through the bore 13 of the barrel 11 (facing the breech face 16 of the slide 10—the slide's breech face 16 includes a firing pin opening 17 can be seen in this view). The opening 21 (FIG. 1B) directs the gas/debris 2 (of the second gas) along a specific path through the ejection port 20. This carries debris away from the optic 30—keeping the glass 33 clean.

Referring now to FIG. 2A, the barrel 10 of FIGS. 1A-C is shown in isometric view. A rear length of the barrel 10 may be referred to as a barrel hood 3. The barrel 10 also includes an upper barrel lug 5 on an upper part of the barrel 10, and a front lower barrel lug 6 and a rear lower barrel lug 7 on a lower part of the barrel 10. The rear lower barrel lug 7 defines a feed ramp 8 for guiding a round into a chamber 9 of the barrel 10 (a bullet nose hits the sloped surface of the feed ramp 8 before it enters the chamber 9).

In this view, the barrel face 26 of the breech end of the barrel 10 is visible. A recess 27 is formed in a portion of the barrel face 26. The opening 21 (FIGS. 1A-C) is defined by the bottom of this recess 21, sidewalls of the recess 27, and a part of the slide to mate with the barrel face 26 (this part of the slide may be referred to as the slide barrel face).

FIG. 2B illustrates a rear view of the barrel 10 (e.g., a breech end of the barrel 10). In this view the shape of the recess 27 in the barrel face 26 is shown. A depth of the recess 27 may be constant in this embodiment (e.g., the bottom of recess is parallel with the barrel face 26), but other arrangements may be possible and practical (e.g., a recess with a stepped bottom, a curved bottom, or the like). Also, in this embodiment a width of the recess 27 tapers away from the bore (e.g., the width is smallest at the outside surface 29 of the barrel and widest at the bore of the barrel 10). However, in other embodiments it may be possible and practical to have a recess with some other profile, such as a constant width.

In this example, one edge of the recess 27 has a profile that corresponds to a profile of a bottom of the upper barrel lug 5. However, this is not required. In other examples, there may be a part of the barrel face 26 remaining between the recess 27 and the upper barrel lug 5. Also, in this example, the recess 27 extends from the outside surface 29 to only an upper part of the chamber (e.g., a top half of the chamber); however, this is not required.

FIG. 2C illustrates a side view of the barrel 10. In the enlarged detail C shown in FIG. 2D, the sidewalls of the recess 27 are shown. In this embodiment, each sidewall may have a curved section 32 and a straight section 33 as illustrated. However, the sidewalls may be any shape (e.g., vertical, linearly sloped, non-linearly sloped, etc.)

FIG. 3 illustrates a rear view of another barrel 310 with a recess 327 on the barrel face 326. The recess 327 may be similar in any respect to the recess 27 (FIG. 2C). However, this recess 327 extends from the chamber of the barrel to each of the side surfaces of the barrel 310. This recess 327 may form plural openings that vent second gas to either side of the firearm. Also, in this example, the recess 327 extends to both the top half of the chamber and part of a bottom half of the chamber.

Any of the feature described herein may be used in combination with any barrel described in U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 17/156,503, filed on Jan. 22, 2021.

We claim all modifications and variations coming within the spirit and scope of the following claims. 

1. A barrel for a firearm, the barrel having a bore extending from a breech end of the barrel to a muzzle end of the barrel, the back of the bore comprising a chamber of the barrel, the barrel further comprising: a barrel face on the breech end of the barrel; and a recess on the barrel face, the recess having a bottom that extends from the chamber of the barrel to an exterior side surface of the barrel.
 2. The barrel of claim 1, wherein the bottom of the recess is flat.
 3. The barrel of claim 2, wherein the recess includes sidewalls, and wherein at least one of the sidewalls includes a flat section and a curved section.
 4. The barrel of claim 1, wherein a width of the bottom of the recess tapers from the chamber to the exterior side surface of the barrel.
 5. The barrel of claim 4, wherein the recess extends from a zenith of the chamber to a midline of the chamber.
 6. The barrel of claim 1, wherein one edge of the recess has a profile corresponding to a profile of bottom of an upper barrel lug of the barrel.
 7. The barrel of claim 1, wherein part of the barrel face is located between the recess and an upper barrel lug of the barrel.
 8. The barrel of claim 1, wherein the recess is arranged to form an opening when the barrel is locked into an ejection port of a firearm, wherein in the case a round is located in the chamber the round is visible through the formed opening.
 9. The barrel of claim 1, wherein the recess is arranged to optimize a flow of gas out a side of a firearm to prevent debris from being propelled over a top of the slide.
 10. The barrel of claim 1, wherein the bottom of the recess further extends from the chamber of the barrel to an opposite exterior side surface of the barrel.
 11. An apparatus, comprising a firearm, the firearm comprising: an ejection port; and a barrel having a bore extending from a breech end of the barrel to a muzzle end of the barrel, wherein the barrel includes: a barrel face on the breech end of the barrel; and a recess on the barrel face, the recess having a bottom that extends from the chamber of the barrel to an exterior side surface of the barrel; wherein recess is arranged to form an opening when the barrel is locked into the ejection port, wherein in the case a round is located in the chamber the round is visible through the formed opening.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the firearm is a glock compatible firearm, and wherein the ejection port is defined by a slide of the block compatible firearm.
 13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the ejection port is defined by a slide of the firearm. 